From the back cover:How can a charter school in the middle of Harlem emerge as one of the top schools in New York City and State in just three years? The Success Academies operate from the simple notion that principals and teachers—the adults—hold the keys to educational excellence. If adults improve their performance, set the bar high enough, and believe that children can rise to their expectations, students are propelled forward at lightning speed.

Mission Possible, written by Founder and CEO of the Success Academy Charter Schools, Eva Moskowitz, and literacy expert, Arin Lavinia, offers practical, classroom-tested ideas for dramatically improving teaching and learning. Through detailed descriptions of how to keep students challenged and engaged, how to ensure that the adults are constantly learning, and how to use the Success Academies' THINK Literacy program, Moskowitz and Lavinia describe what can be accomplished when schools shift their focus to improving the adults' performance. The included companion DVD provides clips and interviews, illustrating how any school can be transformed to achieve remarkable results.

My thoughts:I was given the prompt: "Stagnation, being unable to accomplish one's job at a high level is one of the greatest sources of low teacher morale. Why do you think this country treats teaching so differently than it does other professionals?"

I personally believe that Stagnation is caused by 3 things:1) Government Interference with Rules & Regulations & cutting funding - Over the years the government has allowed schools, states and other countries to draw us away from teaching our kids the basics of education. I have a friend who just finished her student teaching and while she had been teaching for over 25 years she had to return to school to get her masters. While student teaching she was astounded by how much teachers have to do - over and above teaching the 3R's which takes about 25% of their time 75% is spent assessing and reporting on children.

No longer do our teachers have time to make sure each child knows their letters, how to sound out words, how to read ON LEVEL - but now they spend more than 50% of the school day assessing how a child interacts with others, if they understand racial equality and how to treat someone that is another race, if they can skip, put together a puzzle, hold a pencil correctly, do they know how to feed themselves and know what color a tomato is, etc, etc, etc.

Our children are so busy being tested and prodded they no longer are children - but little subjects to be fit into a mold. Yes, it's important that children know how to interact with each other - but it's even more important that they know how to read, do math skills, understand science and language - and be a child.

There is no reason for the government to cut funding to schools & programs before they cut funding for the arts, illegals, and other things that are not a basic right to life in the US. Our government has their priorities mixed up - The Basic Right to Life in the US (were not discussing abortion here) should include: Physical Safety, the right to eat, have a roof over our head and the right to an education. These Rights are mandatory - not an option. Education funding should never be cut & teachers should not be laid off because of funds being cut!!!

Lest you all think I believe Stagnation is ALL because of the Government let me relieve you of that thought:

2) Parents - Each week I host a literacy booth at the farmer's market and at various schools during craft shows, teacher's in service events, etc - I am continually amazed how many parents will completely pass by the opportunity to sit with their child and read a book (they actually either have me babysit their kids while buying a purse or makeup or drag them away). For some reason priorities have gotten mixed up in our homes - Instead of the Basic Right to Life being Safety, Education, a Home and Food - in many homes its: Junk Food (which slows down the brain and makes it difficult to learn & understand), Videos & Computer Gaming (which slows down learning and turns our kids into zombies), Stuff - toys, gadgets taking over hands-on parenting, and bad behavior & disrespect for others (parents not teaching their children how to behave away from home and that disrespect toward adults and those older than us is absolutely NOT Acceptable).

Ok - I'm off my soapbox there. I believe we have 2 kinds of parents. Those who work with their kids and those that don't. Those that do are the ones who find ways to teach their kids either with workbooks, videos or by finding fun creative ways to help their children learn visually & cognitively. Both ways are wonderful. Then there are parents like I had who don't read except that 1 book at bedtime, who don't teach their child their ABC's, beginning math skills and then expect them to Succeed at school. It's so very important for children to have certain "TOOLS" when they begin Preschool and Kindergarten.

Finally, I am amazed at how many parents don't discipline their children and teach them how they are expected to behave when away from home. I'm not applauding child abuse - but every child should know when they are away from home that hitting a teacher or another child is not acceptable. This is not something the schools and teachers should be expected to teach children. This is the parents job. Period.

3) Lastly, the teachers. Teachers have it rough. They go to school everyday, work with the children, go without breaks, lunches and study time so they can work with kids who are struggling. Then they go home and do the work they should have time to do at school. When they get paid they have to not only pay their mortgages, child care expenses, food, etc - they have to buy the supplies for the children that don't have what they need, provide the carrots & crackers for children like me who didn't get fed in the morning, hand out mittens and socks for the kids who don't have any.

Yes, there are teachers who have given up (and many that need to leave the field but they've gotten comfortable with not doing a good job and just don't care). These are teacher's that need to be flexible and learn to work with kids with ADD, etc - finding out a child with an "issue" is not a reason to refuse to teach them. Teachers need to be given the tools they need to do their job.

Wow! I think I went way off the expected answer - but every child has the Basic Right to Life: Safety, Education, a Home and Food . Period - It's time our government quit messing with that and starting building on these basics.

This wonderful book is eye-opening and I so wish I had had the opportunity to go to this school although to be honest I don't know if I would of excelled there - I struggled just to learn the basics. I understood them but couldn't seem to apply them. I applaud these teachers that stepped way out of their comfort zone and choose to make a difference in the life of a child and I applaud the children & parents who made the decision to accept the Basic Right of an Education and Apply themselves even though it was difficult. Good Job to the Success Academies!

Get Connected:Be sure to stay tuned and learn more on Eva's Facebook and Twitter pages.

WIN IT:I have the opportunity to give one of you a copy of this book. I'm going to make it ultra easy today since you had to read a book just to get to this point. LOL. Here's what you need to do:

****US Entries Please****

Be sure to leave a comment for each below the post. Thanks!

1) Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment below and tell us about your favorite teacher when you were a child - how did they encourage and give you the tools to SUCCEED in school? ****

Saturday, July 28, 2012

I was thinking today how much parents (and us Aunties) need to encourage our kids to 'Go for the Gold' after the Olympics are over. There are many ways we can do that for all our children. Here are a few....

1) Make a banner with your children that says "Go for the Gold!" and put it over your child's desk or in a prominent location where your child will see it every day. This could be in the dining room, living room, bedroom - or how about on the door you walk out of each day?

Create a Wordle in the colors your want - make a stencil out of them and then stencil them on your wall, a poster board, on the stair risers, on the back door - why not on the dashboard of your car?

2. Create a chore chart for your kids with little gold medals that kids can tape up as they complete their chores. Encourage your kids to do their chores, homework - everything they do to the best of their ability.

3. Parents find ways to help your children "visualize" the concept they are trying to learn. Are they struggling to understand Story Problems? Start creating "stories" in the car using numbers.

Use your child's friends names to help your child visualize or picture what's happening. Use items such as pennies, dolls, trucks, dinosaurs, cookies, balloons that your children are familiar with. Example:

“Yesterday, Taylor had 2 keys. He found some more keys and now he has 4. How many keys did he find?”

Encourage your child to use their fingers, m&m's, cheerios, marbles, what ever is handy to help them count and visualize (there's that word again!) the problem. There isn't any need to come up with special manipulatives to do story problems. This helps with children learning to use their imagination, numerical solving, problem solving, addition, subtraction, even beginning algebra skills!

If they have trouble solving the problem in their head - be sure to show them using something from around the house so they can "SEE" how you got the answer. Preschoolers are really good at these kinds of problems - do them in the car, while at the movies and waiting for the show to start, on the bus - anywhere you have a few moments. Don't be afraid to get silly either!

4. File Folder Games are wonderful for Math & Language Skills! As a nanny I used File Folder Games with Alicia constantly. I personally hate all those little "My Little Pony" type games which have no purpose except stuff like looking pretty, fashion, feel good type stuff. Nothing wrong with it - but I'd rather encourage children to use their brains and learn to think. Why not make it a game?

The whole idea of these games is ease - you use a File Folder (use the colored ones - red is math, green is science, yellow is language and so on) and the children practice various skills such as matching, sequencing, beginning spelling & math facts. I even found one for beginning ASL (American Sign Language)!

When I created my file of games I purchased the Carson Dellosa books which had 20 games in it and you cut out each piece, colored it, glued it down, laminated it and put all the little pieces (markers, dice, spinner) in a baggie or envelope to keep it together. Now you can also find the games already set up as a PDF and all you have to do is print it (already colored), cut it out, paste it and laminate (I HIGHLY recommend laminating - it's worth every penny). Teach your children they MUST pick up EVERY piece before they are allowed to get another out. This is absolutely mandatory!!! You will hate yourself if you don't do this from the start!

(Note: It takes some time to create these - do it after the kids are in bed and while you're watching TV. Some hubbies will even help you. If you have preteens or teenagers who are artistic or creative you might enlist them to help you. Offer to pay them if you must! Storage - I kept mine in one of those square blue portable file boxes. It worked out really well and I kept them all together that way.)

Check out the File Folder Fun website. They have games & file folder activities for all ages from Preschool (about 3/4) to Fifth Grade.

Ultimately, my idea for this post was to encourage you to come up with ways for your children to learn essential skills, to have fun and to have a way for your to teach your children to STRIVE to SUCCEED. You as the parent must give them the tools to EXCEL. You can do it by spending very little - although the File Folder Games should be in every families home and also at school.

Quotes:Example of Quotes to encourage your kids to "Go For The Gold". Click here for more - put these on your walls on poster boards, stenciled on your teens bedroom walls, on the bathroom walls, etc. Quote them to your children, encourage them to memorize them - and your children will remember them when they are down or need to strive to succeed!

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." -Vince Lombardi

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. " -John Wooden

"Set your goals high, and don't stop until you get there." -Bo Jackson

"Winners never quit and quitters never win." -Unknown

"The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can't do. -Dennis Waitley

Disclaimer: This post is not part of a partnership between myself and the companies/websites mentioned. No money exchanged hands.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

While Farmer Dougal sleeps, Sheep and his friends board the tractor and take turns making engine sounds. But what if their loud honks, moos and squeaks wake the farmer? Children will love copying noises in this joyful story from the internationally renowned author, Jez Alborough.

Check out a new video of author Jez Alborough reading ‘The Gobble Gobble Moooooo Tractor Book’ now available on his website. Do you remember when Jez Alborough read "The Tractor Book" at the 2011 Convention? Now you can experience it all again! The GOBBLE GOBBLE MOOOOOO and more!

After a break of about 5 weeks due to major computer issues, starting a new job, etc, etc, etc.... I'm ready to continue our Summer Book Club! Thanks so much for being patient and waiting while I get my feet back under me.

I do ask for prayer as I begin looking for a new family who needs babysitting or daycare for the school year. I'd prefer to have a FT permanent position - but at this point I'd be happy with a good family with well-behaved children.

Fourth-grader Ellie James has a great imagination. She spends a lot of time daydreaming of owning a black stallion show horse and winning trophies in the horse show. But when the answer to all her dreams and prayers gallops into her life, will Ellie be able to recognize it? Join Ellie and her quirky family in their exciting, horse-loving adventures.

Backyard horses are the opposite of show horses. They don’t have registration papers to prove they’re purebred, and they might never win a trophy or ribbon at a horse show. Backyard horses aren’t boarded in stables. You can find them in pastures or in backyards. They may be farm horses, fun horses, or simply friends. Backyard horses are often plain and ordinary on the outside . . . but frequently beautiful on the inside.

My thoughts:

One little girl dreaming of owning a horse and planning on all the ways she can work on her parents to talk them into getting her a horse. Cry? Beg? Throw a fit? It's never worked before.... Unfortunately it hasn't stopped her from daydreaming in class and getting into trouble - and that's how the book opens. I loved how involved Ellie gets in her daydreaming up to and including "daydreaming" up a horse outside her classroom window - or is it real? If so, no one believes her...

Horse Dreams is very well written, doesn't talk down to kids and it doesn't seem as though Dandi MacKall is lecturing or "teaching" the kids who read it a lesson. I was very impressed with her method of helping Ellie come to understand her parents point of view about why she can't have a horse. The wonderful part of the book though is that Ellie shows a maturity by the end of the book as she helps an abused horse find a new home and Ellie accepts that her job is to help this "backyard horse" relax and let others help her. I really liked this little girl and I'm looking forward to reading other books in this series.

Buy It:

The Backyard Horses series includes Cowboy Bob, Chasing Dreams and Nightmare. You can begin reading this series aloud to your younger children around Grade 1 and the reading level is for kids 4th grade and up (it's actually very easy to read and moves quickly).

You can purchase all 4 books on Amazon for $5.99 each and they are eligible for the 4-for-3 promotion - buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. It's a wonderful series to add to your family's personal library and will be well loved over the years.

About the author:

Dandi has been writing stories since she was a little girl and her true speciality is teaching children about animals and encouraging them to help others (whether it's an animal or a friend). She began writing children's books when she had her own children and you can find over 400 books like: picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle-grade fiction & non-fiction and young adult novels. She loves horses and animals of all kinds and it truly shows in her books. (Learn more here)

Win It:

Dandi MacKall and Tyndale Publishing are giveaway 2 sets of the first 3 books away to my readers! Isn't that wonderful.

Mandatory Entry: Be sure to follow Dandi MacKall on FB and leave her a comment thanking her for the giveaway! (I'm not sure the giveaway gadget is reading FB addresses - so if it doesn't come up just leave a comment below this post. Thanks!

Much thanks to Dandi MacKall and Tyndale Publishing for donating this book for review and giveaway. I was not paid for my review services and was not required to provide a positive review. Note: my full disclosure is listed on this page - click here

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Phoenix Files Series:This electrifying, alternating-narrator serial catapults the reader into a creepy locked-down desert town, built by an all-powerful corporation and populated by people who can unwittingly mutate and travel through time. With a plot that twists and turns unexpectedly, The Phoenix Files is a compelling and suspenseful read.

Luke Hunter soon realizes that the new town he’s now living in is no ordinary town. Then he and his new friends, Peter and Jordan, discover a plot to wipe out the rest of the human race – in only one hundred days. The clock is ticking.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Lizy, Jake & I have been taking Art Classes at the South Omaha library this month and it's been very educational and fun. Today we learned about Amate Folk Art which was originally painted on Mulberry Bark Paper (although according to KidWorldCitizen.org it's Fig Tree Bark paper). The Amate Art form dates back to pre-Hispanic days when the Aztecs used the paper to create books to record data, harvests and more. According to our teacher, Linda, only about 6 books remain from the Aztecs as most of them were destroyed when the Conquistadors invaded and burned them.

Today I'm going to show you some examples of real amate paintings, and then give you a link to a lesson about how to make it and also show you how we created it in the classroom. It's very easy to do but also very, very detailed. Our teacher was a little strict about having the older kids at least try the steps and encouraging them to add it to their artwork.

As you look at the pictures you'll notice how very bright the pictures are. You'll see lots of color, detail and also one of the techniques these pictures are known for are the use of different types of shapes & lines, such as:

(You might draw these on a piece of paper and hang them where your children can see them while they make their masterpieces.)

This is the picture I made at today's class. You'll see the use of white paint or black paint to highlight and add detail as well as a bit of contrast with the background. It's important to not cover every part of the paper. It helps the picture to stand out more. Each picture will have a border and border design and one of the design features is the torn edges. I also used dots on the breast and tail of the bird which added some depth and texture to the painting.

Lizy's & Jake's paintings turned out just as nice. Jake's is of a racecar and Lizy's is a dog. I loved how the brightness stands out on each and even though Lizy had trouble tearing the edges it really looks neat. Neither of them wanted to add the details (the white and the lines) that Linda the teacher wanted them to add - but it does really help the picture. I personally would not have made them add the details since they were happy with what they had done - but they both did like the end result.

paperbags - cut into 12x12" pieces - or you could do 8 x 11 if you'd like (I'll show my examples on white paper so you can see it better).

Acrylic Paints (the kind that comes in the little tubs - neon and bright colors are best) - these are permanent to be sure to wear old clothes.

Pencils for drawing around your stencil or cookie cutters

Sharpies for outlining your design

Markers, colored pencils (optional)

Paint brushes, paper towels and water bowls

Cookie Cutters - or those little Wooden Shapes that kids can paint to use as a stencil.

Black construction paper to glue your artwork to at the end.

Cover your table with newspaper so you don't have to worry about permanent marker bleeding onto your table and staining it. Give your child a square piece of paper with the square drawn on the middle - leave a 2" border if possible.

Have your child pick out a cookie cutter, stencil or draw a design on their paper using a pencil. Using permanent marker outline your design and then the border. ****Note - do not add any details - you'll add the eyes, mouth, hair, fur, etc at the end.

After drawing your design and border, outlining it you will want to tear off a small border on the outside of the paper. This gives it a finished look and also makes it look old. (Look at ours to see. Note - this was the hardest part of the project I thought.)

Give your child a very small amount of the acrylic paint and thin it out a little bit with a tiny bit of water. When they paint you don't want them to saturate the picture with paint and you don't want 'GOBS' of paint on it either. It'll take forever to dry. Teach your child to only dip their brush into water when changing colors and to never pound the brush which will break the bristles, also show them how to dab the excess water out of the bristles.

Encourage them to use bright fun colors. The more cartoonish it looks the better. Be sure to have them use white or black paint to highlight the picture too.

After the painting has dried use these marks (see marks above - it's the O's, lines, S and U marks) to add detail like fur, feathers, shape and texture to their designs. It's amazing how much detail these marks add to your picture - so be sure to do it . You can also use the round end of the brush (not the brush end) to do polka dots. Just be sure to let your picture dry before doing these otherwise they spread out and don't look really dotty. Decorate your border with stripes, flowers, etc. When everything is dry - paste your picture on a black sheet of construction paper so it's "framed".

Here is another example of Amate painting - you could use rocks or those plaster statues that can be painted (get them at the pottery shops). Wouldn't this be neat in your garden?

I hoped you liked our "lesson" today. I'm not good at doing tutorials but I thought you might like to see how it was done & you might like to try it for yourself. =D

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Have you considered putting a homework center together in your home? A place where your kids can find the TOOLS they need to do their homework? Here are a few ideas you can use:

Dining Room Redo:

Many people have an extra room in their house. The Dining Room isn't used as often as the kitchen for dinners - it's less convenient, the table, chairs and set up is more formal and especially during the week most people don't have time for a formal sit down dinner. Why not turn that room into a study room - sans a TV but with the dining room table turned into a giant family sized desk. Bookshelves on one end can contain the family's encyclopedias, math dictionaries, phonics books, tools to help teach math concepts (giant jars of cheerios or m&m's for counting, adding, subtracting skills - why not keep the family change jar in there for practice money skills.) Be sure to set up a small desk in the corner for the family computer - it's in a central location but out of the way. Plus you (Mom & Dad) can keep an eye on what the kids are doing on it.

An added bonus is - everyone works together on their homework at the same time. Mom & Dad can sit and read. Older kids can help younger ones, parents can help anyone that needs it and if no one has homework - you have a place for Game Night.

The above snapshot is an example of what you can do - I created it on homestyler.com. You can start from scratch, play around with color, furniture, rugs, flooring, etc. Use what you have, or make up a shopping list and either go all out furnishing your new Homework Zone or buy it a piece at a time.

My thought for the above room is that it's a multi-use room. You can use it for everyday use - homework, playtime, game night and if you have company throw a leaf into the table, get the good dishes out of one of the armoirs (use one of them for the good stuff & linens) and the other armoir can hold a small flat screen or better yet add some shelves for books, games, etc. If you possibly can nix the flat screen and video games and make it a true family room. Best of all the dining room is usually next to the kitchen so you can do the cooking, etc while the kids are in the homework zone so you can pop in as needed to help them out - or break up any fighting you hear.

What do you think? Do you have a homework zone - someplace away from the TV where your kids are close by, you can read, play games, etc. Is it formal, unformal, the living room, the kid's bedrooms, the kitchen table??? We'd all love to hear!

The Summer Book Club will start up again this coming Monday - for now I will featuring another NEW Kane Miller book that your kids will love!

NEW SERIES

Usborne

Amy Wild, Animal Talker

The Secret Necklace

The Musical Mouse

Age: 7 years and up

Size: 5 1/8 x 7 3/4

Pages: 95

Series: Amy Wild, Animal Talker

Paperback $4.99 Library $10.99

Amy Wild, Animal Talker Series: Welcome to the world of Amy Wild, where dogs tell their secrets, cats perform rescue missions, and an entire island is squeaking and squawking with animal magic! Animal lovers everywhere will be instantly enchanted by this Dr. Dolittle for a new generation.

Amy doesn’t want to move away from her friends to live on Clamerkin Island. But then her great-aunt gives her a secret present – a necklace that gives her the power to talk to animals! Amy can’t wait to make lots of new furry and feathery friends… but will it be that simple?

Amy’s first day at her new school is made even more exciting by the appearance of musical mouse! But the teachers don’t like their squeaky visitor. Can Amy find the mouse a new home before the headmaster catches up with it?

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

One of Usborne's newest books is about childhood bullying and the experience of Jack. One of our consultants was on her local News stations "AnchorMom" show and she shared the video of her segment. I thought you might be interested in what she had to say. If you are interested in purchasing the book just click on the title of the book. =D

What an amazing book! As the mom of a daughter who was bullied in middle school (I'm just know learning the extent of it, some 7 years later), I was moved by the powerful description of a boy desperately trying to maintain a normal face at home, while facing such indescribable abuse at school. This book will definitely have a powerful impact on its readers."